*74 ON PLANTING FLOWERS IN MASSES. 



readily kept in proper bounds. The flowers are produced in clusters 

 at the sides of the shoots, they are exceedingly showy, generally each 

 blossom is near double the size of those in our present plate, as we 

 were obliged to reduce the size in order to conform to the usual extent. 

 It thrives best when turned out in the open border, or pit, elevated 

 above the floor of the house, so the sides may be warmed by the 

 heated air. A free drainage of about a foot deep is essential, so that 

 the plant may never be drenched at the roots. 



In a rich turfy loam and turfy peat chopped, not sifted, with some 

 pieces of charcoal sprinkled among, it grows luxuriantly. 



It is easily increased by cuttings of the young shoots. The plant 

 can be had at the nurseries at about half-a-crown each, and it well 

 merits a place wherever a fine showy climber is desired. It blooms 

 nearly all the season, from May to November. 



ARTICLE II. 



REMARKS ON PLANTING FLOWERS IN MASSES, 



BY FLORA. 



Much has been said in commendation of the modem fashion of 

 planting the flower-clumps of the garden and pleasure ground with 

 but one kind of flower. The effect, in my opinion, is almost always 

 bad ; there is as much glare and want of relief in a great bed of Roses, 

 Geraniums, Irises, &c, as in the old plan of indiscriminate mixture 

 of small patches of many species, and with less variety. A collection 

 of mere Roses is doubtless highly interesting when judiciousl 

 arranged by a mixture of tall and low growing species of various tints 

 of colour, and the whole set off by the dark green of trees and shrubs 

 in the back ground, and which I had the high gratification of seeing 

 in full splendour in July last ; but a clump solely of the China, or 

 any other kind of Rose, as is often seen in the midst of a grass plot, 

 seems to me as glaring as would be a nosegay wholly of Roses ; and, 

 in the case of Irises, &c, there is the further great objection, that a 

 week's display in spring is purchased with months of subsequent 

 barrenness and deformity. Two points seem clearly required in a 

 flower-clump ; first, that it should present a succession of flowers ; 

 and, secondly, that these should be contrasted and relieved by a due 

 intermixture of green, just as the native taste of the veriest peasant 



